The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-11-26

st ''s'
with an uneasy apprehension in her
face.
Il don't know what 70 make Of it,"
she kept thinking, in a troubled way.
She knew by the next night. Tie
new line fence was done. 1t was
seven feet high. There was nothing
to be seen across it except the upper
half of MI. Talcott's house, the tops OF
the trees and the barn root. 1t rose
tall and stern and forbiddins. And
there was no gate. 1t was n hostile,
incorporating barrier. 1t was an
effective monument to Mr.. Talcott's
wrath and resentment.
The summer passed on into the fall,
and the fall became raw and windy,
and eventually snowy. MI. Longs
tomatoes had not suffered sgain from
Mi: Talcott's hens. They had ripcnod
finely. They had been eaten and
stewcd; they had been made into eat
sup. and they had been pulled while
green to be sliced and picked.
Mr. Talcott's fence had accom-
plished this. and u great deal more.
1t had stood there like an evil monster,
and had never been crossed. It had
come down like u curse from the skies,
and shut off all the old c%ommunica-
ton, and turned the old friendship into
a hard enmity, and the old trust into
fixed rancor.
1t became rapidly known that the
two old ncighbors were mot on speak
ing terms;' and the causes and cir
cumstances of the rupturc were not n
mystery. 1t was known, too, that
Mrs. Long and Mrs. Talcott were not
active participants in che quarrel. The
old pleasant companionship seemed
Virtually ended, because. in their
timid %womanly submissiveness, they
obsyed the ~unspoken commands Of
their husbands rather than face the
~displeasure which would have followed
q defiance of them. But they smiled
when they met each other; they lin
gercd in the church vcstibule to ex-
change good-morning.
Tho autumn days filled the air with
the dim-bluc vapor, and not unpleas-
ant odor Of bonfire smoke. Mr.. Tai
colt was late with his. H put it Off
till his fall cleaning was done--the
garden freed of the dried and empty
bean vines. and raked off; tho weeds
pulled up which had ilourishcd power.
less for harm during the last month or
two, and which now stood black and
frozen; II few dead bushes cut down
and the fruit trees trimmed here and
there. Il was late in November when
the pile lay ready, low down in Il cor-
ner of the p%lundered potato patch. In
some of its rough hollows lay the re-
mains of thin 10y
Mr.. Talcott lighted it directly after
supper. Now and then he replcnished
it; at eight O'Clock it was still burn
ing. lie sat down on an old stump to
look at it as it leaped and ilickered it.
self out, lighting up " broad space
around il and shining on the high
fence.
Mr.. Talcott sat with his elbows on
his knees and hk chin in his hands.
There was u sort of peace in the clear
night, and in tho early quiet which
had settled down upon it. He looked
around at the still, bare scene and the
pale-gray sky, and felt something of
the tranquility.
A little spark from the subsiding
fire snapped into Il little pile of dry
stalks half n rod distant and they
famed up. A twig took fire from them
and burned to its end. and u loose
splinter b!azcl in its turn. He watch
ed the curious line of light as it ate its
.lickering way along. There was n
deep deposit Of dead leaves drifted up
the tall fence; they took the
and glowed and cracked smart
ly. After then the flames mounted
up. and grew broader and redder-th3 3,
had caught fire.
MI. Talcott got up and walked over
o it. Then he returned, with scarce
y the haste that might be looked for,
md started for the pump. He seemed
,stler to linger IN his way; when he
cached it, he stood q moment without
toing any thingin particular before he
iled a wooden pail which lay near.
md went back with it. The fence was
brightly; but he stopped to
lick out a chip which had got stuck in
he sole of his boot, and tied the old
muller he wore around his
leck with hands which were not quite
Then he pcered all about him,
4 all oddly guilty way. emptied his
of water on the ground, and went
nd sat down on tho stump again. He
,oked cold and cross and uneasy. and
ny thing but heroic; but there was a
cw-found warmth within him.
There was quite a crowd about the
lace half an hour later, looking at the
lackened remains Of the line fence
,vcral men, attracted by the flames,
nd a few women hastily wrapped up.
II. Long had roue mt and wotched